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Edith's Streets

This blog records notes about London (and Greater London) streets - what the buildings are, what the background is. These pages have been compiled over many years and from many sources - its not intended to copy from other people's work.Each post represents a square on the Ordnance Survey grid -and the vast majority of information is culled from map based source material - Ordnance Survey, A/Z, etc.

On some inner city squares only a quarter of each square is done because of the volume of material involved

Please add your comments and corrections - I am sure there are lots of mistakes - and my idea is to build up a correct record interactively

Red- it is (hopefully) there nowBlue - its interesting but its goneNo colour, same as the text - don't know. needs to be verified

North London Railway - Canonbury

Alwyne Place
At one time listed as Frog Lane
Alwyne RoadPosh houses and on one side gardens back on to the New River.Abbots Close, enclave of housing built 1955
Alwyne Square
The square now consists of 1950s housing. In 1857 building began on a circle of villas named Canonbury Park Square. The area was owned by the Marquess of Northampton and in 1879 it was renamed Alwyne Square - one of the Marquess's family names. The developer was Charles Hill who had agreed with him to lay out three new roads in the space between Canonbury Tavern and the New River within 21 years extending it to this area in 1857. Hil1 sold his development on to Henry Witten, of 5 Alwyne Road who built the square finishing it in 1863 with 21 large villas. The leases fell in in 1936 and there were proposals for redevelopment, However much of the area was destroyed by Second World War bombing. The square was rebuilt in 1954 and designed by Western Ground Rents' surveyor Nash. It is now small flats and pastiche houses. The central square has some chestnut trees and modern railings.Coach House. The only building remaining from the pre-Second World War estate. It is claimed, by estate agents, to have been the coach house to a big house on the site.

Blair CloseHousing built 1984

Canonbury
Means 'manor of the canons'—that is those of St Bartholomew's, Smithfield, to whom the land was granted in 1253 New River. In what was open fields here the river in its original course took its last loop, the "Horse Shoe", This was straightened in 1823 to allow streets to be laid out in the development of Canonbury Fields

Canonbury Park North
Here development was begun in 1837 by Charles Hamor Hill and there are paired villas of the 1840s with gardens and green space. There are also many post-war houses and flats. Street-names in the area House recall the former manor and its owners the Compton family, the Marquesses of Northampton. Beyond Canonbury Grove were fields until the 1850s

Canonbury PlaceThe Canonbury. The pub, as the Canonbury Tavern, was in place by 1735 and in 1785 included a tea garden and bowling, and other games, and was thus used for corporate events, It was rebuilt after 1846

Church Road
A new road built as part of 21st housing. Can’t see a church though.

Clephane Road
Clephane is the name of a member of the Marquess of Northampton’s family

Douglas Road
The area was field until the road was built in the 1850s. Most of the original villas survive but there is post-war infilling as part of the Marquess Road estate, but now incorporated into Darborne & Darke's Marquess Road estate. Originally Douglas Road and Douglas Road North were all one road going to St.Paul’s Road.New River. The New River here remained an open water-channel and it is now the only section in the Borough of Islington with a continuous stretch of water. The channel was re-dug in the 1970s as part of the park. 40 A modern house slotted into a 20-ft gap between the Marquess pub and the terrace. It is glass fronted by Future Systems, Jan Kaplicky and Amanda Levete who built it in 1993. At the back is a slope of plate glass, forming a triangular envelope with the front wall, which is mostly glass bricks. Inside, there are metal staircases to three decks and a 'the freestanding service core.

Grange Grove
Part of Frog Lane – the old road from London to Highbury. It was designed by L. de Soissons Partnership in 1946. It was part of a rebuilding programme by the Northampton Estate but which did not continue although it did attract the middle classes back to what was by then a run-down neighbourhood

Harecourt Road
This was once called Alma Road

Heaven Tree Close
On the site of works alongside the railway. Advance Stationary Works in the 1950s

Hope Close
This partly lies on the site of the New River’s course as it had looped west, passed under the railway and then looped east to meet up with its course, now the New River Walk on the other side of
St.Paul’s Road.

Marquess Estate
This local authority estates Takes up a corner of Canonbury. It was mainly drsigned by Darbourne and Darke 1966 - 1976 for Islington Borough Council. It marked Islington’s departure from the high-rise constructed under the London County Council. Most of it is terrace houses with small gardens but they are piled up in irregular ziggurats over the garages and which still have the disadvantages found in some of the deck-access high rises. It is built in brick with slate hanging.

New River Walk.
This was opened by Herbert Morrison in 1954. The stretch around Canonbury Grove was restored in 1996-8 by local residents, and has specimen trees and planting

Northampton ParkTerraces built as part of the Marquess Estate. The street-names reflects the former manor owners the Marquesses of Northampton

St.Paul’s Road
The New River Pathway starts on the opposite side of the road to Wallace Road. 140 Builders Arms. The pub is now flatsHarcourt United Reformed Church. New building opened 1992Harecourt Road Congregational Chapel. The church came from Hare Court in the City of London where it has been since the mid 17th. Opened 1857 and designed by E.Habershohn. Burnt down 1982 – on the east corner of Harecourt RoadThe New Crown. Closed

Wallace Road
In the 1870s the railway was widened and the New River was put into pipes and covered over. A pipeline was put through the railway bridges. The pre-1870 alignment of the New River can be seen in the line of narrow gardens behind Wallace Walk. The New River rise again towards the end of the road1 Hope Villa. This was previously Frankfort Villa. The New River's pre-1870 alignment is seen in the long narrow garden behind this house which had been built in 1881. Now partly covered by Hope Close

Willow Bridge Road
This lies on part of Frog Lane – the old road from London to Highbury and Laid out like this in the 19th.